Voice is taking off and retailers are already scrambling to cash in. In May, eMarketer released a forecast estimating that 5.6 million Americans will use a voice-activated assistant device at least once a month this year, a 129% jump over the previous year. EMarketer also estimated that Amazon’s Echo speaker will attract 70.6% of users, while Google Home will garner 23.8% and smaller players, such as Lenovo, LG, Harmon Kardon and Mattel will make up the rest of the market.

For its users, Echo and Alexa bring news, music, help them run their digital lives and, as smart homes come online, their appliances. For Amazon, the voice technology can bring new sales and could deepen — perhaps to the most dramatic degree yet — its relationship with customers, particularly Prime members.

“It’s dangerous," Keith Anderson, VP of strategy at Profitero told Retail Dive in July. "It’s so much easier than pulling your phone out of your pocket, unlocking it, pulling up the app, making a product search, and ordering it. Even with one-click ordering, there’s eight more steps involved. It’s much easier to stand up wherever you are in the room and just say, 'Alexa, purchase more paper towels.'"

Along with the convenience, Alexa can also keep customers immersed in Amazon’s shopping platform and ecosystem. "Retailers like Best Buy and Walmart sell products that have Alexa in it," Jason Goldberg, senior VP of content and commerce at SapientRazorfish, told Retail Dive earlier this year. "So you go to Best Buy and you buy an Alexa, but when you say 'hey Alexa, buy me more printer ink,' she’s buying it from Amazon, not Best Buy." No wonder Amazon was pushing its Echo devices hard on Prime Day.

Timeline

The history of voice technology in retail since the Echo

November 2014

Amazon releases first Echo devices alongside its Alexa platform

March 2016

Amazon releases Echo Dot

May 2016

Google Home release

January 2017

Starbucks launches voice ordering on iOS and Alexa

February 2017

Google introduces voice shopping at Costco, Walgreens and other retailers

An ever-present, all-knowing, Jeeves-like voice assistant with seamless buying capabilities that doubles as a DJ is great for Amazon, less so for other retailers. That could explain why other heavy hitters — including Walmart, Home Depot, Walgreens and Costco, among others — are teaming with Google to allow voice shopping via Google Home.